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How to add launchpad.net repositories to Debian

Many great Linux applications are packaged for Ubuntu on launchpad.net. So what if you are a Debian user (remember that Ubuntu is derived from Debian!)? Are you left out in the cold? Not necessarily!

Here are some simple steps to add most any Launchpad repository to your Debian system. This example uses the excellent Double Commander cross-platform file manager.

Open a Terminal window in Debian.

In the Terminal window, elevate your user privileges, so that you can execute the remaining commands without logging in as root.

su -s

Open the Launchpad page for the application repository that you want to add in a web browser. For Double Commander, the page is https://launchpad.net/~alexx2000/+archive/doublecmd. In the Adding this PPA to your system section of the web page, click on Technical details about this PPA to open the details pane. In the details pane, choose Lucid from the Display sources.list entries for list.

On the Launchpad web page, locate the signing key in below the details pane. You only need the 8-character portion after the ‘/’. For example, for Double Commander, the signing key is BE35DEDD.

Enter the following command in the Terminal to add the signing key to your system, replacing SIGNING_KEY with the actual key you found:

apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys SIGNING_KEY

Now, you are ready to actually install the application from the new repository. Enter the following commands in the Terminal. Of course, use the appropriate application name, such as doublecmd-gtk for Double Commander.

apt-get update
apt-get install appname

That’s it! Enjoy using your new applications. And let me know how this works for you in the comments.

Actually, nevermind. I can see why it’s a horrible idea to not put in specific packages unless you _really_ need them. Great way to accidentally bjork your entire OS is to just keep adding random Ubuntu packages..